Recently unearthed writings from the novelist and former fellow of the University of Oxford Dame Iris Murdoch will be among the topics of an upcoming free humanities festival at Oxford Brookes University, where academics are once again setting the terms for what gets remembered, read, and discussed. Some of Murdoch's previously unpublished poems were found in the attic of her house on 30 Charlbury Road, and some of them will be read out at the event, which runs from 15-18 April and is described as aiming to create connections between academics and the local community.
Who Gets to Curate Culture
Gary Browning, a committee member for the Think Human festival and an Emeritus Professor, said the Iris Murdoch Society had recently found the poems in the attic. The poems have since been published in a collection called Poems from an Attic, which also includes a poem about her husband, historian Michael Foot. Browning will lead a discussion titled Oxford Quartet: Women Philosophers Against the Tide on 17 April. The discussion will centre on the life and works of Elizabeth Anscombe, Philippa Foot, Mary Midgley and Booker Prize winner Dame Iris, who all came to Oxford as undergraduates in the 1930s.
Browning said, "These women were much more inclined to be more objective in ethics and thought that we needed a strong support for ethics in philosophy." He also said, "Anscombe, after the war, [felt very strongly that Oxford University should not give an honorary degree to Harry Truman, who dropped atomic bombs on Japan, and she was virtually alone in opposing this action." The festival's framing of these figures runs through the university apparatus, with the institution presenting itself as a bridge to the public while deciding which voices get the stage.
What the Festival Says It Is For
Event director Prof Katharine Craik said the festival was for everybody. She said, "For me and for many of my colleagues who are running events this year, being human is about openness and having an interest in other people's lives, other people's communities, other people's realities, and bringing people into conversations". The event is set up to create connections between academics and the local community, a familiar institutional promise that sounds generous until one notices who is doing the inviting and who is doing the organizing.
Craik said she was looking forward to the event commemorating local history dedicated to Harriet Jacobs, who she described as "one of the most remarkable African-American figures of the 19th Century." She added there would also be a day event for schools on Friday "to enrich the kids' preparation for A-levels, but also to broaden their knowledge and understanding more generally of humanities subjects." The festival's public-facing language is all openness and enrichment, but the structure remains top-down: university staff, professors, and committees arranging access to culture from above.
What Gets Read, and Who Decides
Browning said actress Annette Badland would read "a very moving" love poem about Anscombe by Dame Iris. He said he had a "positive" response to the unearthed poems and that the one about love was "really quite powerful." Browning will also talk about two novels, one of which, Jerusalem, may never be published after Dame Iris left a note on the manuscript stating "Not for Publication, Ever." Even here, the gatekeeping is plain: a manuscript marked off limits, then discussed anyway within the festival circuit of academics and cultural managers.
The author won widespread acclaim with novels such as Under The Net, The Black Prince and The Sea, the Sea, as well as philosophical essays exploring morality. Events on motherhood, the legacy of new Labour and grassroots football are also part of the programme. Browning called it an "absolutely fantastic occasion" where there "are always spirited conversations between the audience and people on the stage." The language of participation is doing a lot of work here, but the actual setup still runs through the university, its professors, and its curated program.
The Think Human festival runs from 15-18 April at Oxford Brookes University. One of its featured discussions, Oxford Quartet: Women Philosophers Against the Tide, is scheduled for 17 April. The event is free, but the machinery behind it remains firmly in institutional hands.